Lunar glow
by Snickerick
Summary: //Summary changed// About how Yue affected the two siblings. Part two set between The Waterbending Master and Siege of the North.
1. Comprehension

A/N: This is my first fanfic here, so please be kind. There might be some mistakes, but forgive me.

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters.

* * *

Lunar glow

This is the night of the full moon. Sokka glares up in the dark blue sky, where the moon shines so bright. It makes him feel strong; like nothing would ever hurt him. Of course, it was natural for a Water Tribe member to feel unbreakable during the full moon. Katara has been proved to draw power from the moon, the moon makes her even more powerful.

He sighs. Sometimes, even though he understands nothing about bending, he just admires his little sister. And to think her as a powerful Waterbender, though she just started her lessons under Master Pakku's teaching, it makes him sad. It just makes clear he is no longer needed since Katara can take care of herself _by _herself. What else a big brother is supposed to do than protect his little sister or brother? Nothing, his responsibility ends right then and there when the younger one shows that he or she has grown old enough. He sighs again. Katara was the one who protected Aang from Prince Zuko while he and Yue…He shakes his head, a bit ashamed yet he feels wistful.

He leans to the icy rail, his mind travelling back time just about 24 hours. Princess Yue had come running to him, she had looked very worried about something. But once she had gotten right in front of him, she had seemed to forgot her worry. Instead, she had stood there, blushing and stuttering. Then…he had leaned towards her and crushed his lips against her warm ones. He doesn't remember every detail clearly. He had run his hand on her, exploring her curved shape through the thick fabric. She had broken them apart, just to whisper that this wasn't the right place and that she didn't want anyone to see them. She had guided him to her room, _cold_ room as it used to be in the Poles, but he hadn't recognized the freezing air in the chamber, for he had been surrounded by the heat of her and the kisses they shared. She had pulled him with her to the extravagant bed, into the middle of different furs that were as covers. By that night, she had touched him the way no one ever had before.

He sighs deeply. In the other hand, it had felt so right, it still feels so. But then again, quilt and a bit of shame rushed to him. Katara had needed him, she had been fighting against Zuko alone all the time while he had spent his night with Princess Yue. And Katara had lost to the Firebender because of them. He is sure things would have gone in different way if they had come immediately. It was because Yue hadn't told him until the morning when they woke up.

He shakes his head furiously. No, he is not going to blame Yue for anything. She had done nothing wrong, right? She just… forgot to tell him sooner. Alright, he couldn't deny it. Who could simply forget there was your kind-of-friend fighting against an enemy for your other kind-of-friend; that wasn't a thing you could just forget. But it had been because of him as well since he hadn't ask her either. No one could blame her. And if they did, they would have to blame him too. Sure, nobody had blamed anyone, and Katara hadn't even asked what had taken them so long. She had been too confused and worried about Aang. Lucky for them, he had thought.

He plays with his fingers. Princess Yue had done a great sacrifice for all of them. _She_had saved the planet, not Aang alone, as people keep saying. He isn't jealous to his friend, he is simply bitter because people don't pay much attention to her. She had given her life, for Koh's sake!

Sokka brings his glance back to the round silver moon. He won't ever see her again, he knows, but at least he can still watch the moon, knowing she's there. And if he looks intensively enough, he can see her smiling face.

"Are you cold?" a voice comes behind him.

He doesn't turn around, he knows who it is.

"No", he replies simply.

Katara tilts her head, "Then are you hungry? The parties are going on, you know."

"No", he says very dryly.

His little sister lifts an eyebrow, "Unbelievable…", she mutters. "He's always hungry…"

Sokka could hear his sister's muttering, but decides to ignore it. He knows Katara just tries to get him back inside. He isn't going to; he hasn't watched the moon enough.

Katara rolls her eyes. Sometimes her big brother is such a mystery to her; she doesn't understand him at all.

"So…Are you coming?" she asks then, breaking the silence that has fallen over them.

"No", he replies for the third time.

Katara frowns, "No? Is that all you can say anymore?"

He remains silent, knowing that Katara would be the one who would win the argument. She always has. She has always been the one with temperament; he is the joking one. There is no way in hell he could win her.

"Answer me!", Katara demands. She doesn't want to see her brother like that. "What is wrong with you?"

He doesn't answer, but Katara can guess what's it all about.

"Look, what happened to Yue…", she walks beside him and puts her other hand onto his shoulder. "I know these kind of things take a lot of time…"

"_A lot of time_?!" Sokka snaps, turning his head to his sister. He is suddenly furious. Furious for Katara and all the others. And he didn't even know why. "Yue gave up on _everything_ to save the world! _She_ gave up her own life for us and you… you…You aren't even thankful!"

"It was all her own decision! No one made her do anything against her own will! She knew what was right at that's why she did that!" Katara becomes angry too. Angry because of her sometimes so foolish brother. And angry because he was. "And think about Mom! _She_ gave up her life so we could live! We wouldn't be here if she didn't do it! _Have you ever been thankful to her_?!"

That question stops him. The memory of his mother's smiling face rushes through his mind for a fleeting second. It comes back stronger into his mind, but it is too familiar. It is too much like Katara's face. He tries to remember. He tries very hard to remember what was his mother's face like.

He feels so bad. Katara's question has hit the sore spot in his heart. Even though their mother's death has hurt Katara the most, that doesn't mean it hasn't affected him as well. Because they have ceased about that topic for so long, it is very painful to bring it up so suddenly. Only now he realizes how badly Katara is still hurt about it.

And no, he realizes, he has never been grateful for the sacrifice their mother had done.

"Katara, I…", he begins, but trails off as his sister lifts her other brow, looking still very resentful.

"What? Are you saying you just started to be thankful to mother…", she starts bitterly and strangely calm by her tone, "…because I reminded you?"

Sokka doesn't know what to say. Katara can be very difficult by her nature if she wanted so.

"It's not like that!" he defends himself. "True, I've never been grateful to her, but that's why 'cause I didn't want to think of her!"

Katara looks confused, "You mean..?"

"It hurt too much!" he shouts out. "There! You're happy now?!"

Katara is speechless. Her brother has never shown emotions like that. That he could be hurt too. Of course he had cried too when their father had come and told them mother was dead. But otherwise he has been comforting her when she had cried.

She bites her lower lip, regretting her poisonous words she never meant to say.

"Sokka, I'm…", she feels her entire body shake because of all the mixed emotions inside her. "I'm so sorry."

Sokka turns around, regretting his own rude words towards his sister. She was right, after all; it had been Yue's very own decision. He simply couldn't blame Katara or anyone else because they haven't praised Yue for the sacrifice she had made. Because he has been all the same. Maybe not for Yue, but even more important person.

Katara swallows for a few times. She doesn't want to cry. Not now, never. She wants to be strong, not to be the one who cries every time. She wants to believe she has already cried her cries.

She lifts her glance up to look at the back of her elder brother, suddenly realizing something. Sokka must be going through a hard time since it has been just a day since Yue gave her life in order to save them. She feels like she has to say something encouraging; anything to make him feel at least a bit better. That life goes on even though it seems to stop at the times like these.

"Look, about Yue…", she starts as she walks beside Sokka. "I'm sure she doesn't wanna see you like that?"

"…Like what?" he asks, just half-listening.

"Like…", Katara ponders for a second. "Like…Wasting your life like that."

Sokka frowns and looks at her, "_Wasting_ _my life_?"

"I know, I know, that came out wrong, but you know what I mean", she quickly corrects. "That she wants you to continue your life despite the sorrow you feel."

Sokka looks at her a moment, looking suspicious about her words. Katara bites her lower lip. Great, she thinks with sarcasm, you're excellent at choosing your words, Katara!

"How do you know what she would want?" he crosses his arms leaning them to the edge of the icy balcony. He lets his chin rest against them.

How could Katara know anything about Yue anyway? She hadn't speak to her more than a few times. Besides, she is just trying to cheer him up, which he doesn't want. He wants to be depressed, is that too much to ask?

"Because I think she loved you", Katara puts her other hand onto his shoulder. "And still does."

Slowly, he once again looks at his sister, "Did…did she say that to you? Honestly?"

Katara knows she could never lie to him, "Well, no, but…", she looks away from him. "But I can tell from the looks she gave at you. And besides, you heard her by yourself when she transformed into the moon spirit. She said by her own words that will always be with you!"

"Oh…", he says, remembering that certain moment. "Right…"

Katara still looks away from her brother. Silence falls over them once again as neither of them has anything to say. The silence is quite awkward, Katara moves her weight from the other leg to the another. Sokka still stares at the brightly shining moon, ignoring his sister totally.

The moon shines even brighter than before and Katara has a bit awkward feeling. Like someone was watching her very carefully, noticing every single breath she takes. She has had that feeling before. She glances quickly at the moon, then returns it to the floor of the balcony. Well, she actually pays no attention where she looks, she just feels she has to look some elsewhere. Anywhere but the moon. She can't explain why is that, she just has to.

"So…Did you make friends with Princess Yue?" Sokka finally breaks the silence.

"Well, actually… I don't know", Katara admits. "I just talked to her when Aang tried to reach the Avatar State and when we were tracking down him and Zuko. She was nice, but I can't say we had the time to make friends…How about you, bodyguard?"

Sokka flushed, cursing himself for even asking that question. He couldn't lie to his sister; she knew him all too well.

"Well, yeah…We had a good time…", he replies and hopes Katara wouldn't ask anything anymore.

"Is that so?" she asks teasingly. "You were very enamored by her, weren't you?"

Sokka closes his eyes and turns his face completely away from the Waterbender, avoiding her glance. He simply couldn't tell her how far he actually had gone with the princess, never. He hasn't got any idea what her reaction could be, and besides the whole thing was too…personal and ticklish. He refuses to tell anything to his sister.

"Yeah, so?" he replies instead.

"I knew it!" the Waterbender exclaims with triumphant tone. Though it had been more than clear that Sokka had had hots for the Water Tribe princess, she is exultant anyway. At least she made him admit it. Then she gets solemn again. "Too bad she's…you know…gone."

He doesn't say anything. He doesn't get angry because of his sister's quite clumsy words. 'Cause he knows she means only good, though the words come out wrong sometimes.

Katara clears her throat, "So… Are you coming back inside?"

In her opinion, it isn't good for Sokka to just stare at the moon and think about the passed princess. She isn't sure what might come to him if he just rots with his thoughts and denies the life from himself.

He shakes his head, "No, but you can go. It's okay."

She lifts an eyebrow gingerly, "Are you sure you wanna stick outside? I think the party would cheer you up a little…"

"No, I'm fine! I'm a big boy, I can stick wherever I want", he says, half teasing. Sometimes Katara is too motherly when it comes to him although she's younger than him. But he also sometimes appreciates that a lot.

Katara turns to the door, but stops in front of it. She glances over her shoulder to her brother's back.

"Join us when you've stood here enough", she says.

"Okay…"

Sokka sighs deeply as he hears his sister going inside where the party and the happy people are. Where the life is. But in the balcony, there is just him… and her, the Moon Spirit.

* * *

A/N: I was wondering what took Princess Yue and Sokka so long to get to help Katara in _The Siege of the North_...For it was _night_when Zuko attacked and when the two arrived it was _morning_. So, there is kind of my vision what could've happened.

I wrote this in present tense 'cause I wanted to try it. But I must say I won't do it again, at least anytime soon XD But uhh, so... Let me know what you thought about this, okay? Also constructive criticism is always welcome :)!


	2. Confusion

A/N: This is the part two of this twoshot. Hope you enjoy :) (Note the changed summary)

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: the Last Airbender

* * *

Katara stood on the other side of the imagined little ice arena, staring at her opponent with great concentration, not even blinking her eyes. The boy who was supposed to fight her stared back, clearly nervous; his arms were shaking and his position was awkward. Silence had fallen over them, only the freezing fresh wind was blowing into their ears, chasing all the warmth around them. It was so quiet that Katara could even hear her opponent's breath, the quick breaths he made while waiting for her to begin. But Katara wasn't going to start, no; she waited for him to make the first move and then knock him down. She was smart enough to wait and turn his strength against him. Well, maybe not literally, but she was going to see what he attempted to do first.

The silence and the Southern Water Tribe girl's intense stare was to pressuring that the boy finally made the first step towards the match. He created a wave and sent it towards the girl. Katara easily evaded it and turned it against him, pushing him to a wall. She froze the water so that the boy was pinned against the icy wall and wasn't capable of getting down on his own.

Katara returned to a relaxed position, clearly pleased of her achievement. Her lips curled just a bit into a triumphant smile as she looked up at the boy. _16th today_, she thought.

Master Pakku clapped his hands a few times, stepping from behind her.

"Very impressing…", he muttered. With one single hand-wave, he turned the ice back to water again, releasing the poor guy. The master turned to look at his other students. "Is there anyone anymore who wants to fight Katara?"

Since there wasn't any volunteer, he turned towards Katara.

"You've proved your place here as my student, Katara", he began slowly. "What do you say if we…tighten your training?"

Katara lifted an eyebrow, "That means…?"

"You'll fight against me", Master Pakku clarified. "If you're capable of beating me, you no longer need to practice here. You'll be free to teach the Avatar as you like, but as my student I will not allow it yet."

Katara nodded in comprehension. If she bet Master Pakku now, she would be a master herself. And she was going to beat him, she was going to prove herself in that, too.

"Don't worry", the master said. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Katara glanced at him with a daring smile, "I wasn't afraid of that."

Pakku smirked, "Well then…", he took a fighting position. "…Shall we begin?"

Katara tasted blood in her mouth as she fought against the waterbending master. She wasn't sure if the master took her seriously or not, but she was confident that she wouldn't give up easily. For all of the female Waterbenders and the stinking rule that prevented them from (learning) to fight, she would give her everything to show them they were wrong, that the rules were wrong. Females could fight as well as males, the mantra went around her mind.

As she tried different techniques to knock the master down, she suddenly saw Princess Yue watching her at the stairs. Katara's concentration got lame for a fleeting second as she was surprised to find out that the Princess was watching _her_. Master Pakku profited her lack of attention and pushed her into a pool by a large wave.

"Your training is over for today, Katara. You can leave now", the old man nodded slightly like to dismiss her. He turned his attention to the other students, beginning to tell them about how important was to keep the attention in the fight and not let the insignificant distractions disturb them.

Katara climbed up from the pool, clearly frustrated. She glanced over to look at the place where the princess had stood just a moment ago, only to find that she was now gone. She sighed deeply, trying to choke her anger.

_Great_, she thought in pure annoyance. _What was that wench doing here anyway? Of course she came here to ask where Sokka is. At first she asks him out with her and then she tells him to get lost! I'm not gonna let her play with his feelings anymore!_

She began to march to the direction where the princess probably had gone. She was about to say some clear words to her: to leave her brother alone. If that wench enjoyed playing with young men's feelings so much, she could go and play around with someone else than Sokka.

She ran to an icy bridge that enabled to across the river between the two areas, she saw the princess sitting on a gondola and sailing even farther from her.

----------

In the night, Katara was practicing her skills all alone. She couldn't sleep for her mind was fulfilled with the thoughts of becoming a master, the first female waterbending master in the whole North Pole. She also knew their time was running out and they couldn't stay at the capital city for long anymore; they had to go to Omashu so Aang could learn earthbending from the crazy and wise King Bumi. So, she knew she had to master waterbending soon. It just…it would be very selfish to convince them to stay there for longer than needed. Aang already was a whiz kid when it came to waterbending, so Master Pakku could end their indenture anytime soon.

With those thoughts, she created a water ball and played with it, twisting it to different forms. Somehow, she had again the disturbing feeling that someone was actually watching her. But who- Master Pakku? Aang? No, not a chance. Aang would ask them to practice together. He wouldn't be lurking around the corners watching her…

She glanced over her shoulder up to the nearby bridge she was practicing at. Her mouth opened slightly in surprise, the water she was handling dropped down with a 'splash' and moistened her shoes.

Princess Yue turned around to leave as she realized she had been noticed. Katara frowned deeply. What was wrong with that tart? Why did she keep watching her whenever she was practicing? Whatever it was, she was going to find out right now. She started running after the princess who was clearly slower than her.

"Princess Yue!" Katara called the princess as she got to the bridge. "Princess Yue! Wait!"

The princess slowed down, for she had been taught not to ignore when she was spoken to, whoever it was. Apparently she would have preferred to ignore the Southern Water Tribe girl who was running towards her and keep running away as fast as she could in her wealthy clothes, but her manners were too good to do so. She stopped at the end of the bridge, not turning around to face the Waterbender.

Katara came to her, a frustrated frown in her face. She stopped a couple of feet away from the princess as to be polite, but still her expression made clear she wasn't going to spare her words. She inhaled deeply a couple of times.

_I'm sorry, Gran Gran…_, she thought closing her eyes as she prepared to say the words. _I'm going against all the good manners that you've taught me, but I just have to do this…_

"Why do you keep teasing my brother?" she almost spat the words out. "Does it please you somehow? Keeping my brother as your play toy like many other guys?"

Yue looked surprised as she turned her glance at the girl, "I'm not…"

"Playing with his feelings is just some entertainment to you, right?" Katara interrupted her, not letting her to continue. "At first you ask him to meet you, and when he comes you just tell him to get lost!"

"You don't understand…", Yue tried to say, but was once again interrupted by Katara.

"_No_, you don't understand!" she nearly screamed in pure anger. "Breaking his heart is just fun for you! At first you act like you're interested, but when you get bored you just dump him! Do you even realize how badly you've hurt him?"

"I…", Yue tried once again, but didn't get a turn to say anything as Katara let everything be said out loud.

"Let me tell you: he hasn't talked about anything but you ever since we arrived here!" Katara was now pointing at her furiously.

"Please listen to me…", the princess tried to defend herself, feeling weak against Katara's vituperation. "I didn't mean to hurt your brother…"

"How dare you?!" the Waterbender's words were full of hatred. "How dare you do this to my brother!?"

"_Listen to me!_" Yue exclaimed suddenly.

Katara fell silent as she was surprised about the princess' sudden act. She couldn't do anything but just blink her eyes.

Yue retuned back into her calm attitude, "I never meant to hurt your brother. I turned him down because…", her hand reached the collar of her purple fur coat. "…I'm engaged."

She revealed the betrothal necklace similar to Katara's which was given her by her mother, only that the Southern Water Tribe's necklace was seemingly more modest than the princess'.

Katara gasped slightly because she hadn't expected that. But she hadn't said all yet. She lifted her glance back to Yue's face, frowning a bit again.

"I've caught you watching me more than just this time", she said coldly. "Why?"

Yue blushed a bit, "Well I…you…", she stuttered. She looked down at Katara's shoes. "You're the only Waterbender girl here who is learning to fight…"

"Yeah, that's true", Katara said a bit dryly, slightly rolling her eyes.

"You're strong…and you got a pretty face…and your eyes are beautiful too…", the princess stammered as she continued on.

"Like Sokka's", Katara added with a dry tone.

Yue looked up to her again, "Well I…", she reached out her hand to touch the girl's cheek just a tad bit. Katara flinched a bit and took a half of a step backwards. "…I kind of found you attracting…"

After the princess had said that, she quickly muttered 'excuse me' and stormed away, leaving Katara look at her back, confused about all the princess had just said to her.

_

* * *

_

A/N: The part one was supposed to be Yue/Sokka and the part to kinda Yue/Katara, just so that it isn't unclear :) This is set between _The Waterbending Master_ and _Siege of the North_, and this is kind of from Katara's PoV. I hope I got them in character and that this is somewhat believable :) Reviews would be very welcomed and appreciated :)


End file.
